EF! Musicians

Chelsea, Chelsea and Rusty of Dirty Fist! rock the campfire during the Outlaws of Florida Folk song-swap at 2011 EF! Winter Rendezvous

We love to collaborate with musicians who are down with the eco-resistance by helping to promote their tours, provide EF! merch for their tables, or coordinate a speaker to share the stage with them.

Please get in touch if you are interested: speakersbureau [at] earthfirstjournal.org

Along with this we have also released several CDs of musicians who support Earth First! And we welcome artists to send us tracks to consider for future compilations. Details of the two most recent CDs can be found below.

Cover of “No Compromise” CD

No Compromise, a collection of hardcore/punk bands. Details and interviews with the bands can be found here.

Still Wild, the EF! 30th Anniversary CD. Details about the contributors can be found below. You can order the CD here. (IF YOU HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN A CD, but it did not have an insert, download a PDF of the CD insert here.)

The Earth First! 30th anniversary music compilation is a collection of music from the front lines of ecological resistance, spanning multiple genres and generations. Music is as central to our counterculture as the food in our community kitchens, our intention in releasing this CD is to strengthen the relationship between musicians and activists.

Cover of Still Wild: 30th Anniversary CD

About 15 years ago, the EF! Journal collective released the Keep It Wild! compilation which featured artists from the movement at the time (currently out of print). With this CD, we have focused primarily on movement-oriented music from the past decade, although there are a few classics in there too. While there are not as many EF!-specific musicians in our immediate circles today as there were in years past, there are countless musicians out there who have supported EF! through playing at rallies, benefit shows and gatherings. This compilation reflects only a fraction of them.

Thanks to all musicians and those who helped with the recordings. A special thanks to all who donated time and money to make this happen. A special thanks to K Bunny for the art, Peace Supplies for printing, Jason of Soundproof.net for the audio assistance and Daniel of Design2Print for getting the CDs out, despite all the setbacks and obstacles.

1. GRANT PEEPLES — If They Build It… An unreleased track from a real country musician and activist out of Sopchoppy, Florida. Grant has played at EF! roadshows and fundraising events in recent years, but he plays like he’s been there with EF! since day one. Check out more at: http://www.grantpeeples.com

2. SON DEL CENTRO — La Guacamaya This group from southern california plays Jarocho-style music (from Vera Cruz, Mexico) to inspire movements, including Earth First!, all around the country. Some may remember them from the 2008 EF! Organizers Conference/Winter Rendezvous. http://www.el-centro.org/sondelcentro.html

3. PEG MILLETT — Forever Wild Long-time Earth First!er and former political prisoner singing a song by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, a movement musician who passed away in 2010 (see the tribute to him in the Earth First! Journal, Volume II of the 30th Anniversary). This song was originally released in 1995 by Hidden Waters Music. More on Peg here and more on Walkin’ Jim Stoltz.

4. RYE’N CLOVER — Remember the Sunflowers Sweet and fierce folkpunk banjo pickin’ songs from the Finger Lakes region of New York. Rye’n has been in the trenches of the fight against gas fracking in the Marcellus Shale, and he has played at EF! Roadshows and Rendezvous. http://www.ryenclover.com

5. STRAWBERRY JAM — Tearing the Mountains Down Jane Branham and Buddy Delp play music from the Appalachian uprising for self-determination against King Coal. Check ’em out live Hear more from Buddy.

6. LAS KRUDAS/SATIRA & MESTIZO — Nuestra Vivencia Krudas are Cuban radical feminist, queer, socially and ecologically conscious Hip Hop. Satira & Mestizo are another crew from Cuba who collaborated on this track. This song also appeared on the Everglades Uprising CD benefitting the EF! swamp anarchists in South Florida. Hear more here.

7. CITIZENS BAND— Bullshit Anarcoustic folk spanning three decades of movement music. Citizen’s Band music is featured in EF!’s Hootenanny Songbook, and they were also featured recently on a benefit CD for Civil Liberties Defense Center efforts to defend the rights eco-activists and eco-prisoners. www.citizensband.org

8. HERE’S TO THE LONG HAUL — Ballad of Two Womyn A string band born of the movement for mountain justice in Appalachia and beyond. HttLH has played at EF! events across the country, not to mention their frequent impromptu musical disruptions in the lobbies of multinational banks that support the coal industry. Their traditional arrangements celebrate the culture and life of the mountains while their original songs tell stories of everyday people living everyday lives and trying to stand up for what’s right. www.herestothelonghaul.com

9. TRE ARROW — Whisper a Wish (Rise Up) This song was written in prison by Tre during his 6 year sentence for actions which lead to an end of the Eagle Creek timber sale. Prior to prison, Tre was a tree-sitter, occupied the 9 inch ledge of a government building for 11 days and ran for congress, amongst other things. Today he is out on probation, writing music and doing speaking engagements. For more on Tre, check out: www.trearrow.org

10. GEDDEN CASCADIA — War Pony Gedden is forest defender and tree climbing trainer who writes Earth First! folk metal ballads in his spare time and often graces the campfire with them. War Pony is one such ballad. You can find his songs at www.ForestTrolls.org and might also be able to track him down through: www.efclimbers.net

11. JILL LAVETSKY & LONGNECK LULA — No Train is Unstoppable Jill and her beautiful banjo, Lula, wrote this song in honor of the the resistors who were fighting the I-69 NAFTA Superhighway in Indiana, after Hugh and Tiga were arrested on bogus charges. This repression was called an “unstoppable train” by an Indiana State Police. Jill is also an amazing visual artist, check her out here

13. THISTLE — The BP Song A folk singer, gardener and bicycle enthusiast living in Madison, Wisconsin. A return to simpler ways of relating and existing as a creature on the earth is a high priority for them. You can hear more music and read more about some of their bicycling adventures at www.thistlespace.org

14. BLACKBIRD RAUM — Witches A Kazynskian pirate punk jug band street ensemble from Santa Cruz, CA, formed out of the nucleus of a squatter community living in abandoned buildings and greenbelt treehouses in Santa Cruz, CA. This song is off their album Swidden. www.blackbirdraum.com

15. MARIE MASON — End of the World Originally written by EF! movement musician Danny Dolinger, this song is off Marie’s benefit CD “Not for Profit”. Marie is a midwest Green Scare prisoner currently serving nearly 22 years for ecological direct actions. This track was released on a benefit CD which can be found here, along with more of her beautiful songs: supportmariemason.org

16. FROM THE DEPTHS — Lullaby This is a previously unreleased track by this anarcho punk/hardcore band from Carrboro, North Carolina. The song is based on the story of Nelly Cane, the protagonist of an Appalachian folk song in which she kills the man who attempted to rape her, slitting his throat with the glass bottle he had been drinking from. It was Recorded October 2010 with Kris Hilbert (solosoundstudio.com); mastered by Jack Shirley (theatomicgarden.com) From the Depths is S, N, M, B, and R. www.fromthedepths.info

17. AUTOMOOG — Sutra of Smokey This song is based on a poem originally by deep ecologist poet Gary Snyder, with instructions that it may be reproduced free forever. The poem can be found here

18. CASEY NEILL — Ouroburos This is an unreleased version of a beautiful, reflective song by one of Earth First!’s greatest roving troubadours of the ’90s. The song can be found with a full band on “Goodbye to the Rank & File”, the 2010 album of Casey Neill and the Norway Rats. Casey brought us classics such as Riff Raff, Dancing on the Ruins. As a full-time musician, Based out of Portland, Oregon, he has released records on famed folk label Appleseed Recordings and Amy Ray’s (of the Indigo Girls) Daemon Records. He’s toured the world several times and befriended some of his biggest musical influences—Jello Biafra, Pete Seeger, and Steve Earle. www.caseyneill.org